Insegnamento dell’italiano all’università in Cina e comunicazione interculturale: adattamenti culturali e metodologici

This paper is part of the studies on intercultural communication in foreign language teaching, with a specific focus on Italian language classes in universities in the People’s Republic of China. This study aims to resume and deepen what was previously developed by Zhao (2016). Zhao conducted a qualitative investigation according to the methodological approach of Narra-tive Inquiry (NI). The study involved native English teachers analyzing their perceptions regarding intercultural communication with Chinese students. The intent of the authors of this paper is to replicate that research and extend it to the context of Italian teachers working in Chinese academic institutions in order to investigate the interaction from the point of view of intercultural communica-tion between native Italian teachers and Chinese students in a university context in China. The data collected through semi-structured interviews were analyzed thematically with the qualitative analysis software ATLAS.ti and MAXQDA. On the one hand, the analysis confirms the conformity of some aspects to the re-plicated study; on the other hand, new themes emerged that reflect the change in society. In particular, adaptation and comparison with colleagues are highlighted as fundamental strategies for effective intercultural communication in the Italian language classroom.